Claw operated, slidable outer jaw wrench



1956 o. s. MEREDITH 2,765,691

CLAW OPERATED, SLIDABLE OUTER JAW WRENCH Filed Dec. 3, 1954 2a Shets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 0 I M52 50 TH vBY ATTORNEY Oct. 9, I956 o. s. MEREDITH 2,765,591

CLAW OPERATED, SLIDABLE OUTER JAW WRENCH Filed Dec. 5, 1954 2 Sheets-Shea; 2

INVENTOR a- J. Mt'KEfl/TH BYM Z ATTORNEY CLAW OPERATED, SLIDABLE OUTER JAW WRENCH Orville S. Meredith, Skidmore, Tex. Application December 3, 1954, Serial No. 472,944

Claims. (Cl. 81-127) This invention relates to wrenches and in particular to a wrench for pipe or rods.

The ordinary ppie or Stillson wrench comprises a handle, a sliding jaw and a sleeve attached to the handle. The sliding jaw cooperates with a second jaw attached to the handle and slides in the sleeve. A thread is formed on the sliding jaw and a nut for cooperating therewith is mounted in the sleeve. The jaw opening is adjusted by turning the nut. One disadvantage of the above construction is that the wrench must be removed from the pipe if the original adjustment is faulty. An object of my invention is to provide a wrench which does not have this disadvantage.

A wrench constructed in accordance with my invention is self adjusting. The jaw spacing automatically adjusts to the proper amount for the pipe. Others have attempted to devise self adjusting pipe wrenches, but so far as is known to me none of these will properly grasp a pipe. Pipe jaws must exert a certain amount of pressure on a pipe as the wrench is rotated and must grasp the pipe firmly. However, they must not crush the pipe. A wrench constructed in accordance with my invention will securely grip, but not crush the pipe.

A Stillson wrench has practically parallel jaw teeth. Only a few teeth grip the pipe. Another object of my invention is to provide a wrench in which a substantial number of teeth grip the pipe. The objects of the invention include provision of a unique jaw construction providing large contact area. This of course insures more secure gripping with less pipe damage.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a pipe wrench which has reduced lateral dimensions. According to the invention a tooth or gear construction is provided which requires the minimum in overall width of the Wrench, yet with which there is still adequate strength.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a pipe wrench construction in which the gears for operating the wrench are self cleaning.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and accompanying rawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a wrench constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a sliding jaw.

Figure 3 is an end view of the jaw of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is a side view of the other jaw and a sleeve.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a jaw insert.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of sleeve members.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a roller and pin.

Similar reference characters in the several views indicate similar elements.

A wrench constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a handle It), a combined sleeve and jaw 12 and a sliding jaw 14. The handle has finger grip elements 16. At its inner end the handle has a boss 18.

Sliding jaw 14 has an elongated shank and a curved jaw portion 22. The jaw portion has two inner teeth 2,765,691 Patented Oct. 9, 1956 sections 24, 26. The upper section is straight but the lower is curved. Projection 28 prevents accidental disengagement of the parts when the wrench is assembled as in Fig. 1. The elongated shank has a longitudinal channel 30 cut on the inside. Pins 32 are secured in the shank 20 at equally spaced intervals and project laterally of the channel. The pins are spaced from the bottom 34 of the channel.

Sleeve 36 is formed of two plates 38 and 40, bent as indicated in Fig. 6. At their upper ends the plates have aligned apertures 42. The latter receive pins 44. Rollers 46 are rotatably mounted on the pins. At their forward ends the plates form a channel 48. Inner jaw 50 is received in the channel. Pins 52 secure the inner jaw to the plates.

Inner jaw 50 has a lower solid jaw face 54. and two spaced parallel flanges 56-58 extending upwardly therefrom. The jaw face and flanges are serrated to form teeth. The flanges loosely receive shank 20 when the wrench is assembled.

Boss 18 has a transverse bore 60. The latter is rotatably mounted on pin 62. Pin 62 is secured in aligned openings 64 in plates 38 and 40.

Teeth 66 are formed on boss 18. The teeth are concentric with bore 60.

With the wrench elements assembled as in Fig. 1 the operation is apparent. The rollers 46 insure smooth easy action of the wrench. The teeth 66 cooperate with the pins as with ordinary teeth. It should be noted, however, that foreign matter will be forced between the pins and will drop out therebetween as the wrench is operated.

The shank 26 is received in the sleeve. Rollers 46 are on one side of the shank and the teeth 66 on boss 13 are on the opposite side. The rollers are spaced equally on opposite sides of line 68 which extends perpendicular to shank 20 and through the pivot point for boss 18.

The teeth on the inner jaw 50 are seen to curve oppositely to the teeth on the inner tooth portion 26. The flanges 56 and 58 receive shank 2t and jaw portion 22. Small pipe will be grasped between the toothed portion 26 and the inner jaw. As the wrench is opened to accommodate larger pipe the pipe will contact toothed portion 24. With a wrench applied to a pipe or rod the handle 16 is grasped and urged downwardly, as seen in Fig. 1, to tighten or loosen the pipe as the case may be. In so doing the handle tends to rotate about pin 62 urging the inner jaw and sleeve toward the outer jaw. The force exerted on the pipe will increase until the pipe either loosens or tightens, thus slipping with its accompanying burring, scoring, or gouging of the pipe is eliminated. The formation of the teeth also contributes towards the elimination of gouging, etc.

Further, due to the shape of the teeth, a pipe is urged upwardly toward the tooth portion 24. As the sleeve and its attached jaw 50 moves toward the outer jaw the inner jaw 50 applies a force upwardly, as indicated by arrow 70, thus further decreasing any tendency to slip.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my invention, it will be understood that variations in details of form may be made without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A pipe wrench comprising a handle, a first jaw, a second jaw and a sleeve, said first jaw being connected to a shank, said shank being movably received in said sleeve, means forming a channel in said shank, said channel having a bottom and spaced sides, spaced pins mounted in said shank and extending transversely through said channel, said pins being spaced from said bottom, said handle having a boss rotatably connected to said sleeve,

0 means forming teeth .on said boss, said teeth being in meshed engagement with said pins, said second jaw opposing the first jaw and being connected to said handle, said handle being operable to adjust said jaws relative to each other.

2. A pipe wrench comprising a handle, a first jaw, 21 second jaw and a sleeve, said first jaw being connected to a shank, said shank being movably received in said sleeve, means forming a channel in said shank, said channel having a bottom, spaced pins mounted in said shank and extending transversely through said channel, said handle having a boss rotatably connected to said sleeve, means forming teeth on said boss, said teeth being in meshed engagement with said pins, said pins being spaced from the bottom of said channel and said channel having an open end, said second jaw opposing the first jaw and being connected to said handle, said handle being operable to adjust said jaws relative to each other.

3. A pipe wrench comprising a handle, a first jaw, and a sleeve, said first jaw being connected to a shank, said shank being movably received in said sleeve, means forming a channel in said shank, spaced pins mounted in said shank and extending transversely through said channel, said handle having a boss rotatably connected to said sleeve, means forming teeth on said boss, said teeth being in meshed engagement with said pins, said pins being spaced from the bottom of said channel and said channel having an open end, a second jaw mounted in said sleeve and in opposed relationship with the first mentioned jaw, a roller extending laterally of said sleeve above said shank, said shank engaging said roller above said boss.

4. A wrench having opposing jaw faces, said faces being serrated to form teeth, one of said faces having two toothed portions, one of which is formed on a curve, the other of which is formed as a straight line, the other jaw having teeth formed on a curve opposite the first mentioned curve, said jaws being positioned in facing relationship with the teeth of said other jaw opposing both toothed portions of the first mentioned jaw.

5. The apparatus set forth in claim 4 in which the second jaw has a solid portion and two flanges extending upward therefrom, said teeth of said second jaw extending along said two flanges, said flanges receiving a portion of the first mentioned jaw when said jaws closely approach each other, and means for adjusting said jaws with respect to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 61,355 Peake Jan. 22, 1867 708,210 Dahl Sept. 2, 1902 844,176 McOsker Feb. 12, 1907 1,094,221 Kuhns Apr. 21, 1914 1,614,170 Ainsley Jan. 11, 1927 1,714,018 Goldstraw May 21, 1929 1,847,959 Harris Mar. 1, 1932 2,703,503 Hairston Mar. 8, 1955 

